Tag Archives: Group: Illinois Family Institute

David E. Smith at Il. Family Institute: Thankfully, our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom is heavily involved in the fight to defend these Christian business owners’ right to make business decisions according to their faith. We must hold them up in prayer and ask God to allow them to prevail in the courts for the sake of religious freedom.

S.M. Hutchens at Illinois Family Institute: In homosexuality’s assault on the beliefs of churches that once unanimously identified it as sexual perversion—sodomy being “the abominable and detestable crime against nature”—its most potent weapon has been the counter-accusation that identification of homosexuality as sinful is a detestable offense against charity. By these presents, all who hold to the ancient interdict as God’s word may be numbered among the crowing yahoos of Westboro Baptist Church with its “God Hates Fags” placards.

Nathan Cherry of Engage Family Minute at Illinois Family Institute: It is stunning to talk with people that believe same-sex “marriage” is the “end of the line” in the fight to redefine marriage. Unsuspecting or perhaps naïve is the best way to describe such a mentality. To believe that homosexual activists would simply seek to redefine marriage to include their lifestyle, while ignoring all other “alternative lifestyles” is simply absurd. The reality is that same-sex “marriage” is just another step in the process to erase the boundaries of what constitutes marriage and family.

Illinois Family Institute (large photo Joe LaRue): The Senate Executive Committee decided to override Illinois history this afternoon by approving SB 10 which redefines marriage to include two individuals of the same sex. The bill passed out of committee by a 9-5 vote along party lines.

Catholic Post: For centuries marriage has been defined as the union between one man and one woman and now is the time for the body of Christ to “rise up” and defend it, said the speakers at a recent dinner for religious leaders hosted by the Illinois Family Institute. “If we don’t respond — unless God works a miracle — same-sex marriage will soon be the law of your land here in Illinois,” said keynote speaker Joe LaRue of Scottsdale, Ariz., legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund).

Illinois Review: IFI’s Executive Director David Smith and Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Joseph LaRue told the pastors representing black, Latino and mixed congregations that the legislation is more expansive than simply allowing two persons of the same sex to legally marry.

Democratic Underground: . . . judge Sophia Hall is a lesbian and claiming that means she should recuse herself in the case. The Cook County circuit court judge is handling a challenge to the constitutionality of state laws that define marriage as between one man and one woman.

Gina Miller at Renew America: Thanks to the Lord, the Illinois Family Institute has the support of the Alliance Defense Fund and the Thomas More Society. Through the Alliance Defense Fund, they will be filing a motion to intervene in this case to defend the Illinois marriage law against this wicked assault . . . Pray for the State of Illinois and for those who are fighting for the side of truth. Pray for the Illinois Family Institute, the Alliance Defense Fund and the Thomas More Society, and as always, consider sending financial support to these groups.

Today’s announcement by State’s Attorney Alvarez makes it clear that this lawsuit was an ‘inside job’ from the beginning, a crass political move to force same sex marriage on all Illinoisans without providing the residents of the other 101 counties an opportunity to be heard.

TeutopolisPress.com: State Representative David Reis (R-Ste. Marie) is calling upon Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to recuse herself and the resources of her taxpayer-funded state office from supporting two lawsuits questioning the constitutionality of Illinois’ gay marriage ban

Chicago Phoenix: “As we feared, civil unions have not turned out to be equal to civil marriages,” Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, said in a statement. “In area after area, couples were either treated unequally or denied their rights. As we learned in history, separate does not make equal.”

MetroWeekly: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (D) will be joining Lambda Legal and the ACLU in arguing that Illinois’s civil unions law does not meet the state’s constitutional guarantees of equal protection, raising the question of what the Cook County clerk of courts — the named defendant — will do in its response to the lawsuits.

One News Now: “Because yes, they do want the benefits — but what homosexuals want centrally is cultural approval,” explains the family advocate. “They want there to be no formal public recognition that homosexual unions are different from heterosexual unions.”

World Magazine: Smith added that IFI is working with the Alliance Defense Fund to see whether his group has standing to oppose the lawsuits and to evaluate the legal options. The situation “is discouraging for a lot of reasons,” said Laurie Higgins, a cultural analyst for IFI, not least because the Illinois news media are declining to address key issues. For example, she pointed out, gay rights proponents insist that marriage has nothing to do with gender or having children—but if marriage is just about subjective feelings, why should the government be involved at all?

Christian Science Monitor: A new bill in Illinois would require schools to adopt anti-bullying policies, but the Illinois Family Institute and Concerned Christians of America say that the law would challenge certain students’ religious and moral beliefs.

LifeSiteNews.com: A coalition that includes black pastors and pro-family organizations held a protest outside the headquarters of the Southern Poverty Law Center yesterday to protest the organization’s ongoing “slander” against pro-family organizations.

Illinois Family Institute on the Christian Newswire: David E. Smith, Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute, denounces the enactment of “civil unions” by a lame duck session of the Illinois General Assembly which is already affecting the civil rights of others, specifically people of faith opposed to homosexuality.

IFI: “Civil unions are merely a stepping stone to legalized same-sex marriage. Of the central defining criteria for marriage — number of partners, blood kinship, minimum age and sexual complementarity — sexual complementarity is the most enduring. Therefore, eliminating it constitutes the most radical redefinition of marriage imaginable.”

St. Louis Today: “Both supporters and opponents of a controversial ‘civil unions’ measure say it could come to a vote in the Illinois House as early as today, in a lame-duck session that may give it the best chance of passage that it’s likely to have.”

LifeSiteNews: “Pro-family leaders in Illinois are preparing for a battle to preserve traditional marriage in the state as supporters of a homosexual civil unions bill eye a post-election lame duck session as a golden opportunity to push the measure through.”

David E. Smith, Illinois Family Institute Executive Director, writing at Opposing Views: “This troubling incident epitomizes the problems with ‘social justice’ as conceived by contemporary universities. Social justice proponents seek to eradicate diversity when it comes to moral beliefs about volitional behavior with which they disagree . . . The city of Indianapolis is now considering evicting the Just Cookies bakery from the location in the City Market where they have operated for twenty years . . . Organizations like IFI . . . [and the] Alliance Defense Fund . . . have tried to warn conservatives about the serious threat posed to First Amendment speech and religious liberty by . . . anti-discrimination policies.”

ADF President and CEO Alan Sears writing at Inside the Issues: “The case of Dr. Michael Campion almost sounds more like a men’s clothing store than a legal showdown. Dr. Campion’s Christian faith didn’t suit the city of Minneapolis, so it fired him. The firing didn’t suit Dr. Campion, so he filed suit against the city. After a preliminary ruling by the court that was very favorable to Dr. Campion, the city realized that it would likely lose, and agreed to pay the good doctor a considerable sum in damages – which suits him just fine.”

OneNewsNow: “Minneapolis has settled a lawsuit with a Christian psychologist after firing him because of his relationship with a pro-family group . . . Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) defended Campion, and attorney [Jim Campbell] contends that his client’s affiliation with the pro-family group should have nothing to do with his work for the city. ‘That is the exact point of this case. This settlement reinforces that the government shouldn’t penalize Christian contractors for their beliefs,’ he points out.”

WorldNetDaily: “A Christian psychologist suspended by Minneapolis because of his ties to a pro-family organization has agreed to a $210,000 settlement from the city . . . ‘This settlement reinforces that the government shouldn’t penalize Christian contractors for their beliefs,’ said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel [Jim Campbell], who argued the case on behalf of Campion last year in federal district court.” ADF News Release

The city “suspended” Dr. Michael Campion, a psychologist who performed employment testing for the city, shortly after city officials learned of his affiliation with a conservative Christian organization, the Illinois Family Institute.

Illinois Family Institute: “Rev. Senator James Meeks (D-Chicago) sponsored and passed the bi-partisan school vouchers legislation (SB 2494) that now moves to the Illinois House. This bill would enable 22,000 Chicago elementary students who attend the city’s 49 worst performing schools to attend private schools.”

North Carolina Family Policy Council: “Students in North Carolina are encouraged to join thousands of young people nationwide in countering the promotion of homosexuality in schools by participating in the sixth annual ‘Day of Truth’ sponsored by Exodus International. The ‘Day of Truth,’ which is scheduled for Thursday, April 15 this year, was established in 2005 by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) as a response to the pro-homosexual ‘Day of Silence,’ an annual event created by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) that encourages students to remain silent throughout the school day to show support for students who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.”

Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney Andy Norman will be available for media interviews following a hearing Wednesday in Sherman v. Koch. In October, ADF and allied attorneys with the Chicago firm of Mauck & Baker filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit on behalf of the Illinois Family Institute in support of the state’s “period of silence” law.

One News Now: “‘[Judge John R. Kennedy] went where our legislature expressly declined to go,’ writes Craddock. ‘The Illinois House voted down a civil unions bill last year….Yet Judge Kennedy took it upon himself to legally treat a lesbian couple…the same way the Illinois courts have treated hetero married couples….’ Craddock says his client plans to appeal.”

Alliance Defense Fund and allied attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit Friday in support of an Illinois law that allows a “period of silence” for the state’s public school students. In January, a federal judge concluded, in a lawsuit filed by an atheist, that that the law was “unconstitutionally vague.”

Eric Zorn has this article on the Chicago Tribune. He begins: Does your marriage feel a little less special today, straight couples? Does knowing that octogenarian lesbians Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon had a legal wedding this week in San …

“State Sen. David Koehler is proposing legislation that would legalize civil unions in Illinois and entitle unmarried couples – including those of the same sex – to the same protections and benefits currently afforded to traditional married couples.”